Carlos Schwabe

A Swiss and French artist of German origin, illustrator, symbolist graphic.

Carlos Schwabe is recognized by art historians as one of the main forerunners of Art Nouveau. He received high awards – a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris (1900), membership in the French Legion of Honor (1901). The artist was an illustrator of the lifetime magazines of E. Zola, C. Baudelaire, M. Maeterlink and A. Samain.

Key ideas:

– The main moods of the symbolist canvases of the earlier period of his work are despair and pessimism. Schwabe created paintings using various meaningful hints, giving the subjects mysterious and often mystical content. These features allow specialists to find a kind of “Gothic Symbolism” in his heritage. The main picture from a rather extensive catalog is “The Undertaker and the Angel of Death” (another name is “Death of the Grave-digger”). It is rightfully considered a masterpiece of art, and not only Symbolist. The artist uses a diagonal composition and expressive contrasting palette. At the same time, the apparent absence of the usual attributes – a hood, a black hoodie and a braid – will not deceive anyone. For example, the braid is very reminiscent of the wings in its outlines; in the hand of the Angel of Death, there is a literal unambiguous symbol – the soul of a gravedigger in the form of a greenish flame. So gracefully and picturesquely, in no other work, the angel was presented – it is difficult to tear off the eyes from the canvas.

– In works that are close in style to Art Nouveau, where the author uses rich ornaments, more often florals, the Virgin Mary, muses and angels become the heroes. Due to the expression of the depicted emotions, the canvas “Wave”, ​​the most famous one created by Schwabe in the 21st century, stands alone. Working on the composition, Schwabe made many sketches, and they, making a very strong impression, are perceived as independent works (“Wave 1, 2”, etc.). The artist scrupulously searched for the position of the bodies, facial expressions for the sharp expression of tragedy, horror, grief on the faces of silently screaming women covered by a high wave. The painting is like a bright warning about the chaos that will come with the beginning of the First World War, like «The Scream» by Munch.

– Of the large number of illustrations to the works of literary contemporaries, the most famous was “Tosca and Ideal” (“Spleen et Idal”, 1900) for the compilation of Baudelaire. It began to appear as an independent work; in 1907, Schwabe made two of its variations – in watercolor and in oil painting technique. Drawings, like paintings, combine the features of Symbolism and decorativeness – therefore, the beginnings of Art Nouveau.